


Reunion

by asimpleline18



Category: The Song of Achilles - Madeline Miller
Genre: Epilogue, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-18
Updated: 2018-06-18
Packaged: 2019-05-18 15:14:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,032
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14855193
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/asimpleline18/pseuds/asimpleline18
Summary: I've had this sitting around for months now. I'm just going to post it even though I didn't really achieve the tone I wanted for it. Oh well. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯Original Notes:So, I read The Song of Achilles recently and remembered I have no chill about that particular myth especially after reading this portrayal. I mean, I've been reading mythology since the sixth grade and my parents let me watch the 2004 version of Troy. (Goddamn am I attracted to Brad Pitt in that. Usually, I'm like "eh" with him.) I know I'm a few years behind but I remember when it seemed like everyone on Tumblr was raving about it. I got through both deaths without feeling sad but goddamn, those last two pages. They have me bawling like a baby, they're so bittersweet and beautiful. So, what does my brain want? An epilogue so here we go.Also excuse any mistakes in the mythology. I used mostly used Wikipedia to write this. Also, I have taken my creative liberties. Sue me. I wanted to make it a good reunion. I have two editions of a certain mythology book and I brought 0 copies with me when I moved. *putters around angrily*





	Reunion

**Author's Note:**

> I've had this sitting around for months now. I'm just going to post it even though I didn't really achieve the tone I wanted for it. Oh well. ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯
> 
> Original Notes:
> 
> So, I read The Song of Achilles recently and remembered I have no chill about that particular myth especially after reading this portrayal. I mean, I've been reading mythology since the sixth grade and my parents let me watch the 2004 version of Troy. (Goddamn am I attracted to Brad Pitt in that. Usually, I'm like "eh" with him.) I know I'm a few years behind but I remember when it seemed like everyone on Tumblr was raving about it. I got through both deaths without feeling sad but goddamn, those last two pages. They have me bawling like a baby, they're so bittersweet and beautiful. So, what does my brain want? An epilogue so here we go.
> 
> Also excuse any mistakes in the mythology. I used mostly used Wikipedia to write this. Also, I have taken my creative liberties. Sue me. I wanted to make it a good reunion. I have two editions of a certain mythology book and I brought 0 copies with me when I moved. *putters around angrily*

_ In the darkness, two shadows, reaching through the hopeless, heavy dusk. Their hands meet, and light spills in a flood like a hundred golden urns pouring out of the sun. _

\- The Song of Achilles

* * *

 

I gaze one last time at the colors of the sunset.  _ Thank you for this kindness _ but Thetis is already gone.

I look to the grave my ashes share with Achilles and know that I will be with him soon. With one last farewell to the ruins of Troy and my home of the past fifteen years, I turn to the path that will lead me to the gates of the underworld. It is long but I no longer need the cycle of the sun to light my passage.

Compared to the years of my ghosthood, I arrive at the gates quickly. I pass the monsters that live outside the entrance as well as the entrance guardians without acknowledgement. It is the living who have more to fear in encountering them.

The light of the world fades to dusk as I walk through. It will never be darker or brighter than this until I reach my final destination if I am to spend the rest of my days in Asphodel Meadows or Elysium if I am judged worthy. I swat away thoughts of Tartarus and the Mourning Fields.

The path I walk is well worn from the dead who have come before me. I amuse myself imagining that I'm walking the same footsteps as Achilles. Many others proceeded me down this path I walk. I know I go before my father as Achilles did his. Other souls travel wordlessly with me.

The river Styx is not like any other river on the surface. The waters look just as spectral as the figures that crowd around the shores. Unlucky dead beg the properly buried for coin to pay Charon's toll. I brush past them and drop my coins into Charon's hand and step onto the boat. When it is full, Charon pushes off with his pole and the boat glides through the phantom water. It is nothing like I ever experienced. There was no sound of the boat cutting through the water, no resistance to the boat's path.

I jump off the boat and run into the Underworld the moment it slides into the bank. 

Cerberus sleeps next to the gates that lead to the underworld proper. He pays no mind to those who are meant to enter.

As I approach the Fields of Asphodel, I hesitate. What if I am not distinguished enough to enter the Elysian Fields? What greatness had I achieved in my lifetime besides being associated with Achilles? Most of the men I healed still died on the battlefield. I provoked Achilles' revenge against Hector.   
  
The spirits guarding the gate sense my doubt and sing,  _ Dear Patroclus, most beloved of Achilles, Aristos Achaion. You do not belong here. He is waiting. _   
  
I walk on, no doubt in my mind to whom they refer.

The gates of Elysium are close and much grander. Beyond are the Mourning Fields and the entrance to Tartarus. My deeds in life have granted me entrance to the same realm as Achilles.

It is brighter in the Elysium Fields than the limbo that led here. I am reminded of our time with Chiron and his rose quartz cave. There were many spirits loitering near the gates, waiting for loved ones to join them but I did not see Achilles face among them. I move on.

I finally reach a place that reminds me more of Mount Pelion than anywhere else. Finally, I find the face I have been searching for at the mouth of a cave not unlike Chiron's. He sits at the edge of a fire, curled into himself and looking like the boy I knew during that time rather than the man I knew at my death. My vision clouded with tears as I approached. His unseeing gaze found me and his face flickered with recognition.

"Patroclus?" he called, rising to his feet. "Patroclus!"

He clutches me to his chest as I embrace him back. Tears stream down my face as I embrace him once again after so much time. I feel his tears run down his cheek where it presses against mine. He pulls away and cups my face, still stunned at my appearance. He presses his lips first to my forehead and then across my whole face.

"You cannot know my despair when I could not find you here. Persephone told me you had not yet arrived," he says when he finishes with his affections and rests his forehead against mine.

I close my eyes and just breathe, "The afterlife has not been kind to me. The living failed to fulfill their promises to the dead, least of all your own son."

"He has already found me and he is my son only by lineage," he says scathingly. "He told me what he did and showed no remorse. He knows he is not welcome in this place."

"Though she had many faults, your mother realized her mistakes and showed me one last mercy," I tell him, for he loved his mother greatly while he was alive, he should know that love did not go to waste.

Achilles takes my hands. "Come. Let us not ponder such bitter things any longer. I have missed you greatly. Tell me of Briseis."

"Another bitter topic, I'm sad to say. Let us not talk at all, least of all about the overworld. The misery of our human lives are over. May she also rest peacefully." I tug on his hands. "I want to swim or wrestle or do any of the things we did during happier times in this place." 

"Our tree by the river is here. The one we would sit in for hours on end. Let me bring my lyre." Achilles ran into the cave before joining me again with a lyre that was a replica of my mother's.

I run my fingers across the wood and strings. "It's exactly the same."

Achilles nods. "There is nothing to want for here."

I kiss his lips. "Sing to me again."

**Author's Note:**

> Kudos and comments encouraged! <3


End file.
